Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali has been in the news for silencing a BBC journalist who tried to lecture him on climate change.
Just ten years ago, almost half of Guyana’s population lived in poverty. However, the country’s economic fortunes changed in 2015 when large oil reserves (actually billions of barrels worth of oil) were discovered off the coast of the South American country. Guyana’s economy is currently one of the fastest growing countries in the world.
However, in a recent interview with Mr Ali, BBC journalist Stephen Thacker tried to scandalize Guyana’s economic prosperity by bringing up climate change. He said:
Let’s put what’s going on here into perspective. Over the next 10 to 20 years, $150 billion worth of oil and gas is expected to be extracted off our coasts. That’s an abnormal number. But let’s think about it from a practical point of view. That means, according to many experts, more than 2 billion tons of carbon emissions will be emitted from these reserves from the sea floor and into the atmosphere.
But President Ali refused to be the subject of Sukkur’s demonstration of virtue.
“Let me stop you there,” Ali said.
“Did you know that Guyana has an eternal forest the size of England and Scotland combined? Our forests store 19.5 gigatonnes of carbon and are the forests we keep alive,” he continued. .
“Does that give you the right to release all this carbon?” Sukkur interjected.
But Ali wasn’t playing games.
“Does that give you the right to lecture us on climate change?” he shot back. “I lecture on climate change because you are enjoying it, the world is enjoying it, you are not paying us, you are not appreciating it, you are enjoying it.19.5 Because they have kept this forest, which stores gigatonnes of carbon, alive.I cannot see any value in the fact that the Guyanese people have kept this forest alive.
“What do you think? Our deforestation rate is the lowest in the world. And what do you think? Even if we explored the maximum amount of oil and gas resources that we currently have, we would still be net zero, and Guyana would still be It’s going to be a net zero ‘exploration,”’ Ali continued.
At that point, Mr. Sukkur tried to interrupt, but Mr. Ali had not finished speaking.
“This is the hypocrisy that exists in the world,” he said. “The world has lost 65% of all its biodiversity in the past 50 years. We have maintained biodiversity. Do you value it? Prepare to pay the price. Are you ready? When are the developed countries going to pay the price? Or are you in the pockets of the people who destroyed the environment? Are you and your system responsible for destroying the environment through the industrial revolution? And are you in the pockets of the people who are now lecturing us? Are you in their pockets? Are you getting paid by them?”
Mr. Thacker did not answer any of Ali’s questions. Instead, he moved the interview to a new topic.
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